Farmer urges govt. to train rural colleagues on modern farming

Mr Godshield Kanjal, Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Kalmz Farms Limited, Ogoja, has appealed to governments at all levels to assist in training rural farmers on modern farming.

Kanjal made the appeal on Friday in Calabar.

“Today’s farming is no longer what it used to be. A lot of technologies are now employed in farming. It is no longer the crude way farmers used to know.

“These days, drones are being used to fight pest globally. How many farmers in Nigeria have seen drones, not to talk of using them?

“So, I appeal to government at all levels to assist our farmers, especially rural farmers by exposing them to modern farming methods,’’ Kanjal said.

According to him, governments have not been doing enough to encourage dry season irrigation farming.

“We are just introducing irrigation farming in Cross River North Senatorial District through the River Ogoja by individual efforts.

“We plant vegetables including, okro, flutted pumpkin and tomatoes, and the demand is quite high.

“I have even gone ahead to introduce onion farming which is alien to our farmers, and it’s going on well,’’ he said.

He, however, said that most farmers lacked the needed funding for expansion.

According to Kanjal, many beneficiaries of the various agriculture loans given out by government are not real farmers.

He called on government to ensure that those granted such loans are genuine farmers so as to achieve the purpose – ensuring food security.